In Karen Hamilton’s shocking thriller, THE LAST WIFE (Graydon House, July 7, $17.99) Marie Langham is distraught when her childhood friend, Nina, is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Before Nina passes away, she asks Marie to look out for her family—her son, daughter, and husband, Stuart. Marie would do anything for Nina, so of course, she agrees.

Following Nina’s death, Marie gradually finds herself drawn into her friend’s life—her family, her large house in the countryside. But when Camilla, a mutual friend from their old art-college days, suddenly reappears, Marie begins to suspect that she has a hidden agenda. Then, Marie discovers that Nina had long suppressed secrets about a holiday in Ibiza the women took ten years previously when Marie’s then-boyfriend went missing after a tragic accident and was later found dead.

Marie used to envy Nina’s beautiful life, but now the cards are up in the air and she begins to realize that nothing is what it seemed. As long-buried secrets start surfacing, Marie must figure out what’s true and who she can trust before the consequences of Nina’s dark secrets destroy her.

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU / B&N 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

She was convinced that all butlers were born a certain age at which they stayed until they disappeared in a puff of discreet smoke. For a good servant would never die on his employer, that would be just too inconvenient.

The thought of childbirth made Eleanor shudder. Bringing a new life into this world might be the work of God, but the mechanics of childbirth were surely the work of the devil. And triplets! What had the poor woman done to deserve that?

I should have banished him to roam the fields with his favourite hunting gun, rather than pouring him into a morning suit and inflicting him on our guests…

Now he was standing in front of her, she couldn’t help thinking whoever had moulded this man’s features had done the bulk of it with a boxing glove. And finessed the edges with a heavy plank of wood.

Their eyes widened. ‘Are those meat pies, miss?’ … She’d guessed that some of the young lads’ families would rarely be able to afford such luxuries. ‘Whatever it is, we’re your men!’ Alfie cried. They stood to attention and saluted.

I say gang, what a wheeze!

My Review:

Though far from my usual fare, I adored this cleverly amusing cozy mystery set in the 1920s, it was an enjoyable and pleasantly entertaining read and good fun from beginning to end. I definitely need to add more such cozy tales into my reading rotation. I relished the author’s smooth and easy flow, colorfully quirky cast of characters, and delightfully detailed scenes with oddly curious observations and amusing descriptions.

I was particularly captivated by the enigmatic and sublimely complex character of the ever-efficient butler. Clifford was multi-layered and prone to imparting lesser-known facts, UBIs, and timely quotes from an unusual variety of sources ranging from Sir Isaac Newton to Oscar Wilde. Eleanor was also a treat and I reveled in her tendency to indulge, anthropomorphize, and talk things through with her departed uncle’s old bulldog, as I tend to behave in a similar manner with my precocious fur babies.

The crafty writing duo of Verity Bright was an instant addition to my favorites list. I was so taken by this one I already have their next missive locked and loaded on my beloved Kindle.    

B&N / GP/ Apple / Kobo

My Review:

This wasn’t an easy read, it was a painfully realistic, intensely insightful, tragic, and cringe-worthy tale of family drama with long-held secrets, shame, guilt, anger, violence, emotional battering, mind games, and regrets. The storylines were well scaffolded and cleverly paced with powerful and emotive word choices. There were times I wanted to scream at the characters in disgust for allowing and enabling a long-standing pattern of abusive and violent behaviors, and other times I wanted to comfort them, ease their pain, and assuage their confusion. I despised the male contingent of the family in near equal measure as they were vile and heinously twisted, while the females were nearly inert in their learned helplessness – until they weren’t. I fell into this challenging read and had a hard time resurfacing as while my experiences were paltry in comparison to the horror of this monstrous family, Ms. Trope’s strong word voodoo resurrected and stirred some uncomfortable feelings and memories that left me more than a bit rumpled.

B&N / GP/ Apple / Kobo

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

The woman was Sherri “with an i” (that was how she introduced herself, as though the i were of particular value, a bonus).

It was summer, obviously. But in a funny way it felt like it was Christmas morning and Cameron Hartwell was a present Alexa hadn’t yet unwrapped.

Outside the door stood a shriveled specimen of a woman. She was holding a small dog with giant ears. The woman made Alexa think of what would happen if somebody took a walnut and glued it on top of an old rag doll. She was looking at Alexa sternly.

The zinc she had applied to her face was uneven, making her look like a clown who’d partied too hard after last night’s circus.

My Review:

I am enamored with Meg Mitchell Moore’s smooth writing style and well-crafted story. I fell right into this seamlessly plotted, shrewdly paced, and absorbing tale of women’s fiction. Her storylines were well textured and expertly nuanced with generous servings of family drama, personal grief, coming of age issues, wry humor, romance, small-town living, and suspense. While selfishly resenting any interruption to my perusal I may have accidentally on purpose let all calls go to voicemail.

The complex characters were multi-layered, cunningly drawn, cleverly depicted, and realistically flawed. Each had a distinct voice and arresting aspects to their inner musings, painful insights, and observations. The most amusing threads involved the devilish petty members of the Mom Squad, which was a tight-knit clique of the ostensibly in-group of uber moms found in every small-town, who guarded and groomed their daughters’ social standing with as much self-aggrandizing importance as they did their own, and did so with judgmental eyes and sharply wagging tongues.

This was my first exposure to the agility of Ms. Moore’s pen and brain-tickling storytelling. I consider her found treasure and covet her entire listing while planning to follow her future endeavors like a bloodhound on the trail of an escaped convict.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I only caught the end of that, but if we’re suggesting Dean spends his days in here buffing the banana, we should rethink letting him have the big office.

“It was pretty great.” Pretty great? Chocolate lava cake is pretty great. A trip to Greece is pretty great. Eating chocolate lava cake on the balcony of a Greek villa with Oprah Winfrey and Meryl Streep would be pretty great, and none of it compares with what just happened between Dean and me.

You know what my mom used to call me? A free spirit. No, it wasn’t a good thing. I know it might be for some people, but trust me. The way she said it was like “satan” or “calories” or “polyester.” I guess to her, that was the worst thing I could be.

My Review:

Oh, happy day! One of my favorite funny ladies has started a new smirk-worthy series of rom/coms.  I adore and covet the amusing and mischievous wit, comfortable style, and comedic articulacy of Tawna Fenske. Reading her stories is like indulging in a supersized wedge of my favorite flavor of cheesecake after dieting. Her tales are painlessly easy to fall into with the ideal amount of tension, delicious steam, low angst, and amusing insights and observations. I also find I am quickly enamored and rooting for her quirky characters.   Vanessa and Dean were perfectly cast, a lovely pair, and well-matched for each other – both in and out of the office. I have noted down the devilishly clever pet names of Puma Thurman and Catrick Swayze to steal for future usage and am keen to get my abysmally manicured hands on the next installment of this playfully entertaining series.

Amazon / B&N / GP/ Apple / Kobo

The news of her mother’s death hits Nell as if she’s been shot. The letter must be some kind of prank, but who could be so cruel? Because Nell’s mother died nearly thirty years ago.

When Nell was just a tiny baby, her parents died in a car crash, leaving her to be raised by her devoted grandmother, Lilian. So when the lawyer’s letter arrives, informing her of her mother Sarah’s very recent death, it destroys everything Nell thought she knew. Her grandmother loved her, so why did she lie? And why did her mother abandon her?

Nell knows she can never recapture the years with her mother that were taken from her, and fears this will haunt her forever. Now she won’t rest until she finds out why she was so cruelly deceived. But her family’s past has been kept secret for a reason, and someone is desperate for it to stay that way. How much danger will Nell risk for the truth?

If you loved The Silent Patient, The Secret Mother, and The Wife Between Us, then this addictive thriller about dark family secrets and obsession will have you on the edge of your seat.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

Lilian always pronounces her name as if it’s something distasteful she’s extracting from a plughole.

My Review:

I was riveted, chilled, and itching with curiosity about this maddeningly paced, tautly written, and brilliantly plotted tale. I tumbled right into the writing and even though I knew the villain was vile from the get-go, I just didn’t realize how truly evil she was. Lesley Sanderson is one twisted sister and turned out a shrewd and cunningly penned story that held me captive and tethered to my Kindle while impatient with any fool who dared to distract me from solving this tragic mystery and peeling back all the secrets. I was deeply invested and admittedly, near rabid in my need to know.   There was sleight of hand, decades of lies, misdirections, and well-buried clues. It was divine.